#russian genitive

[myadventuresinrussian]

When to Use What Case

Nom- naming things/subject (что/кто/это)

Prep- where/about (где/о чём)

Gen- possession/of, where from (откуда)

Acc- direct object, direction after verbs of motion (where to [куда])

Dat- indirect object (кому)

Instr- instrument that performs action/with (с кем)

This list is not comprehensive. I’ve included some of the questions that can be used with them, but none of the prepositions. There is also ways to use the cases that are not included, I do not know all of them. Also, I have neglected putting examples; I will come up with some eventually.

[myadventuresinrussian]

To Have

У + genitive

So, the pronouns that will inevitably be used are:

меня 

тебя 

него*

неё* 

нас 

вас 

них*

Some sentences in the present

У меня нет брата. I do not have a brother.

It’s negative, so brother is in the genitive case.

У неё сестра.

In the past tense, you conjugate быть.

When the sentence is negative, then it is не было. always не было.

У него не было машины. He did not have a car (in genitive, not plural).

У вас были кошка. You had a cat.

In future, it will be будет or будут.

 них будут класса. They will have class.

Yes, the  н is supposed to be there.

[myadventuresinrussian]

Ordinal Numbers in Genitive

First of all, when do you use this?

According to my textbook, “time when”, so: the event was on [this date] or the party will take place on [that date]. This is when with the day and the month.

With day, month, and year, it still has no prepositions. So, the answer to the questions: when were you born and when did he die.

How to form the numbers? Take the number in nom, drop ending, and add ого, ьего (soft), ей (fem), or их (plural). 

Examples

So, третий (3rd) becomes третьего or третьей  or третьих.

If you are listing the entire year, then only the last number will be ordinal. So, 1996 would be тысяча девятьсот девяносто шестого. 

Сегодня пятого марта я читаю по-русский. Today, March 5th, I read in Russian.